Should We Just Give Anna Kendrick 'The Late Late Show' Already?

On Monday, Craig Ferguson gave his notice. He's leaving The Late Late Show in December and, with it, he leaves a snake cup and an empty chair behind a desk in Hollywood that needs to be filled by the funniest person CBS president Les Moonves can find in seven months.

It's time for a woman in late night, and Moonves agrees. "A woman would be great in late night," he told Bloomberg, although rumors say he's already talked to Neil Patrick Harris and John Oliver.

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Still, we think we found the best person for the job — someone who can help CBS win 12:35 and do something important and genuinely funny in the middle of the night.

Yes, she happens to be a woman. She's also far and away the best fit for the job. Here's why.

It starts with Fallon. Jimmy has fast become a juggernaut over on the Peacock by turning The Tonight Show into a variety hour featuring, sometimes, the President of the United States. He sings, he dances, he fake-sings while dancing with Emma Stone. It is working, and we're happy for him, and he has a very nice smile and all of that. And he has that nice smile because Fallon has long idolized the men of late-night television and wished to emulate them.

But wouldn't it be nice to have a host who can, sure, sing and dance and do a backflip if necessary, but is maybe already a little tired of—or hopefully disinterested in—late night and its history? Someone who would rather lean back, feet up on the desk, and tell a good, ol' fashioned [phantom] dick joke? The answer is yes.

We present this, an appearance on Conan, as Exhibit A:

In one quick story, she charms, self-deprecates, bites, and underscores everything with a pro-women perspective that wouldn't even make a misogynist reflexively gag. That last part, while frustrating and backwards, is nonetheless key: Anna Kendrick can walk into the old boys club that is late night television and throw some jabs, all while changing the way the whole thing is done and keeping everyone in on the joke. She can retain men, but also bring in the underrepresented market of women viewers—especially the coveted late-teen and twenty-something ones.

Plus, she can shoot the shit with anybody. Stephen Colbert himself was a little nervous on David Letterman's show last week—and he's taking over that show. Anna Kendrick went on Letterman and made fun of Dave for ten minutes.

A couple other boxes she checks off: She has impeccable skit-based comedic timing. She went on SNL a few weeks ago and out-SNLed every cast member through the night. And re-watch that Newcastle Brown Ale not-Super Bowl commercial—every line is executed sharply. She's already admitted to doing guerilla, relatively dickish on-the-street schemes in her off-time with her friend good Aubrey Plaza (whose dark quips could make her a wonderful sidekick). And she also, like Fallon, understands the Internet. Not in the hacky way that McDonalds "understands" the Internet by trying to get people to buy McRibs on Pinterest, but in a genuine way. She talks to people on Twitter like they are human beings. Then she makes very, very, very dirty jokes:

Ugh - NEVER going to a Ryan Gosling movie in a theater again. Apparently masturbating in the back row is still considered "inappropriate"

Those two things—talking to people like humans and making dirty jokes—are late-night television. She has already proven to own the kind of fk-all attitude needed to have staying power on late night television. Kimmel's got it, Letterman's got it, Stewart's got it, Carson had it, and Anna Kendrick does, too.

What's left unproven, though, is her ability to be topical and to interview. But in Colbert, she'll be following one of the sharpest political minds and craftiest interviewers in America. That needn't be her role.

Can she do a monologue? And also: Who cares? Does she need to? She can accrue the best writing staff there is, if she needs to. (Pitch Perfect, her breakout lead role, was written by lead 30 Rock and New Girl writer Kay Cannon, for what it's worth.) Plus, monologues are outmoded. They exist now only for the host's reactions to jokes that fail, not for the jokes themselves. That requires an actor who is inherently self-mocking, which Kendrick is.

Would this hurt her film career? Maybe. But only maybe. Remember: Jay Leno did standup shows all over the country during his Tonight Show run. Fred Armisen is simultaneously shooting Portlandia and leading the band over on Late Night right now. It's doable, but that's not what matters.

Here's what matters: This is now the bigger gig. TV, experts say, is the new movies. Money, experts say, is money. This is likely the biggest job opening for a funny woman that has ever been available, and it's important that CBS gets it right.

So, Les: Give The Late Late Show to Anna Kendrick. Not because she's a woman. Not because women deserve a chance. Give it to Anna Kendrick because nobody in the world would be nearly as good as she would be.

Even Still: Four More Left-Field Women for The Late Late Show

June Diane Raphael and Casey Wilson: Writing partners equally at ease with the spheres of indie comedy (Raphael is married to Human Giant/Children's Hospital/The League star Paul Scheer) as well as The Real Housewives (the pair hosted staged readings of "The Realest Real Housewives" at the Upright Citizens Brigade)—the fans of which Andy Cohen has been allowed to gobble up on Watch What Happens Live (3.5 million viewers vs. 2.8 for Letterman).

Pamela Adlon: Pamela Adlon acted on Californication and King of the Hill (she voiced Bobby), but she's most notable for being Louis CK's collaborator (and the gorgeous woman who rejected him and moved to France on Louie). And people with writing backgrounds (as opposed to strictly performers) like her tend to be more generous, inquisitive hosts and conversational interviewers—think Seth Meyers and Conan vs. Chelsea Handler and Jimmy Fallon. Having Louis CK as a standing back-up guest doesn't hurt her case, either.

Sara Benincasa: Agoraphobe extraordinaire, relentlessly droll tweeter, star of web-video series with names like "Gettin' Wet" and "Tub Talk," and just recently author of a modern re-imagining of The Great Gatsby, it's easy to make the case for her.